Burial caskets are customarily equipped with beds which can be raised or lowered. It is also desirable that the head end of the bed be tiltable to either side for better display of the deceased. Because of the inherent flexibility of the casket bed frame, it is usually necessary only to provide a mechanism for tilting the head end of the casket bed. The foot end of the casket bed is usually provided with a mechanism for raising and lowering the bed but not tilting it.
Many complicated mechanisms have been designed and built to perform the functions of raising, lowering and tilting the casket bed. For example, Harms Pat. No. 1,831,108 shows a spring frame which is curved or arched downwardly and in which the sides of the frame slope from an intermediate point upwardly towards the ends to eliminate the necessity of tilting or canting the frame laterally or to one side. Harter Pat. No. 2,839,814 utilizes a detent mechanism 58 to hold the casket bed tilting mechanism in any one of a number of spaced recesses 60 until the thumbscrew 42 can be tightened to hold the casket bed in a selected position. Slaughter, Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,781 shows a tilting mechanism in which a thumbscrew 47 is used to tighten a bed frame angle 37 and a bracket plate 41 against a friction material 39 to hold the bed in a selected tilted position. Nelson Pat. No. 2,888,732 shows a parallelogram type of mechanism for tilting a casket bed. Gruber U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,704 shows a non-tiltable raising and lowering mechanism for a casket bed. Dower Pat. No. 3,065,516 shows a casket bed raising, lowering and tilting mechanism which utilizes two threaded rods for tilting the head of the casket bed. Nelson Pat. No. 3,653,104 shows a casket tilting mechanism using a pair of threaded rods for tilting the casket bed mechanism.
As the mechanisms for raising, lowering and tilting casket beds have been more complicated, they have also become more susceptible to malfunctions. This is particularly critical because many funeral directors who must adjust the casket bed, usually while it is occupied by the deceased, have limited mechanical aptitude and can easily become confused by complicated mechanical mechanisms. Further, increased manufacturing and material costs have made complicated mechanisms even less desirable. With this background, the advantages of the invention hereinafter described will be more fully appreciated.